Time to Talk
by Dragongirl4741
Summary: Jennifer confronts Ronon. Please R


A/N: This was written after the brief conversation over in the Doc/Wildman thread on GW. THe conversation was about if Jennifer expected Ronon to tsll her how he felt when she told him she was interested in someone else.

I don't own Stargate. If I did there would have been less McKay and more Teyla and Ronon.

Spoilers a little for Enemy at the Gate.

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Time to Talk

Jennifer walked past the intersection that would take her to the gym for the third time and sighed. She needed to talk to him, and her pacing in the hall was not helping.

She had needed to talk to him for months. She just kept putting it off, but she could no longer lie to herself. She could tell herself that none of this mattered, or that it was a waste of time, but none of that was helping her sleep at night.

She walked past the intersection again. She had to do this; no more stalling. She made up her mind that they had to talk today. She briefly allowed her mind to drift back to that day. A day that was so long ago and yet a day that seemed like yesterday, a day that she would change if only she could.

She felt all the emotions once again still as fresh as the moment her life changed. She grabbed the anger and tried to hold on to it. Anger would help her get through this.

With a deep breath, she stopped her pacing and headed to the gym, Ronon, and with luck, a new future.

Ronon was alone in the gym. A group of Marines had just left just a few minutes before. He was going through some basic moves to keep his muscles warm before his session with John.

His back was to the door when he heard the door slide open. John was early.

"In a hurry to get your butt kicked?" Ronon said with a smirk as he turned to the door, but the sight of Jennifer standing in the doorway stopped him. Her jaw was set, and he knew that she had something to get off her chest.

He knew that whatever she had to say was for him; there was no other reason for her to be here right now. The two had not really talked in a few months now, not since that day. So why now? He had been cleared medically to start sparring again after the wraith had stabbed him, so what could this possibly be about?

"We need to talk." Jennifer said in a voice usually reserved for ordering nurses around the infirmary. She took a couple steps into the room and the door slid closed behind her.

Ronon nodded and wait for her to start. She had come to him so he would see what this was about before asking questions.

"I am going to ask you a question, and I want your complete and honest answer. I need the truth please." Jennifer took a deep breath, and stared directly into Ronon's eyes before continuing. "Were you ever interested in me?"

Ronon was surprised and angered by the question. How could she ask him that question? She was the one that told him she was interested in someone else. Why did she need to know this? Why now?

"Why?"

"I told you I need to know. Please, just answer the question." Jennifer pleaded.

Ronon sighed and looked around the room wondering if he could find an escape. Finding nothing and cursing himself for being a coward, he looked her in the eye and gave her exactly what she had asked for ~ the truth.

"Yes." He growled out, watching as tears sprang to her eyes.

"Why? Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"Me? You said you wanted someone else! You wanted McKay." He told her, still angry that it seemed she was putting all of this on him. However, his anger was fading with every tear he saw in her eyes.

"No I didn't. I wanted you!"

"Why did you say you were interested in someone else if that wasn't the truth?"

"I wasn't sure how you felt about me. I didn't know what to do. I liked you, do like you, but what if you didn't, don't, feel the same about me. Should I have just ignored any other guy in the hopes that the two of us could have something?"

"So you instead you push me away?" Ronon asked, not understanding what she wanted from him.

"I didn't mean to push you away. I never thought that you would just walk away if you had any feelings for me. I didn't think you would just walk away. I thought…I don't know, I guess I thought that you would stop me."

"I wasn't going to push you. You said you were interested in someone else. I was not going to make things harder for you by confusing you, and getting in the way."

Jennifer didn't know what to say to that. It was not what she thought he would say. Then again this was not a normal conversation, so she should be ready for anything. Truth be told, she had expected to walk in here and ask her question and then be completely embarrassed when his answer was no, and then she would have gone back to her quarters to cry. She had never thought that his answer would be yes.

"Why now Jennifer? Why now and not months ago?" Ronon asked. The conversation was not one that he was comfortable with; he was an actions kind of person. Talking about this was not something he would normally do, but it seemed now that this conversation had been started he was going to make sure it was finished.

"I don't know. I just thought you would laugh at me. Then you shut me out and I started to wonder if maybe I had been wrong."

"What makes now any different? Why did you think I would not laugh now?"

The door slid open and John walked in.

"Uh, it feels a bit serious in here for me. Should I leave?" John said, looking between Ronon and the back of Dr. Keller's head.

"That would be for the best." Ronon said, never taking his eyes from Jennifer.

Jennifer had been both relived and aggravated by Col. Sheppard's sudden intrusion. On one hand his appearance gave her a minute to think about how to answer Ronon's question. Then again it felt like they were getting somewhere, like maybe they could at least get back to something more like they used to have.

She didn't move while John was in the gym. She kept her eyes on Ronon, and waited for the tale-tell sound of the door sliding closed before she answered his question.

"A lot has happened since that conversation. How many times have we almost died since then? That wraith killed you. What if you had not been brought back by them? I know that is a risk every time you go through the gate, but what if something happened and I had never said anything?"

"What about McKay?" Wondering if maybe the two of them had had a fight and that was why she was here.

"Rodney was interested and he can be sweet at times. I thought that the two of us made sense together. I know it is a bad reason but I thought if I convinced myself that I had deeper feelings for him then everything would be okay.

"Things didn't work out like that though. After a while I just started wanting to be anywhere he wasn't. I look at him at times and hope maybe he will not talk to me. That is not how I should feel for him. The two of us sat and talked about it, and we agreed that we make better friends.

"After everything that has happened, after all that we have been through, is there anyway we can just start over?" Jennifer asked, taking a step closer to Ronon.

"I am not sure I want to 'start over'." Ronon said.

Jennifer looked down and sighed. She should not be surprised by Ronon not wanting to be her friend after what she had put him through. Now she just wondered how fast she could get out of the gym, and still keep what was left of her dignity.

Ronon watched her, even without seeing her face, he knew exactly what she was thinking.

"Oh, of course you don't. Look, I just really wanted to ask that one question and I did, so I will just go ahead and go." Jennifer said, quietly hoping to leave before she said anything that would embarrass herself anymore than she already had.

"You misunderstand." Ronon said, stepping closer to Jennifer, and with a finger raising her head. He gently cupped her face and wiped her tears with his thumb. "We can never go back but we can go forward. If that is what you want."

Jennifer threw her arms around his neck burying her head in the crook of his neck, and nodding her consent.

Ronon wrapped his arms around her waist. Now that he had her in his arms, there was no way he was letting her go.

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I hope you liked it Please R&R


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